Christmas Gifts for Her & Him

I thought I'd do a huge mix this year and give you one big gift guide that has a mix of gifts that will do great for all ages (young adults and over) and genders. In this gift guide, you will find everything from your fizzy bath bombs, alcohol to your tech gifts. There's bound to be something that will give you an idea on gifts for someone (hopefully!) this year.

Let's get started with this beautiful personalised bracelet from Anna Lou of London. Nothing can beat a personalised gift, it adds that extra personal touch, and it's a gift that can be treasured for life. Anna Lou have a great selection of beautiful jewellery from bracelets, necklaces, earrings, kids jewellery and much more. They're gifted in some beautiful packaging too, which means one less job for you.

Cool Stuff always have a vast Christmas gift range, and you can't go wrong buying some delicious smelling bath bombs. This set of 7 bath bombs gift pack from Cool Stuff smells absolutely amazing when you open the packaging, so whoever you gift this too, will be super happy. They come wrapped in a Christmas sack too for that extra festive feels!

Talking about bath cosmetics, this whiskey infused luxury soap in a tin would be a fab hamper addition. There are 4 types to choose from; The Manhattan, The Rob Roy, Dandy Sour and Rusty Nail. You can buy one from The English Beagle who also do a great collection of beautiful gifts for all.

Talking about The English Beagle company, another great product from them is this beautiful fine bone china Hare jug. There's a Stag and Chicken fine bone china range too. You can choose from three different sizes and again, a great addition to a hamper or on its own. Why not also add an Advent Candle too, by Plum & Ashby, also from The English Beagle. It smells absolutely amazing and comes in a gift box.

Talking about candles, this beautiful personalised candle holder from Norma& Dorothy. You can make this personalised by choosing the name and the message under the 'Special Friend'. As said above, personalisation makes a gift extra special and something that can be treasured. Norma & Dorothy have a beautiful range of personalised candle holders.

Moving on from candles, do you know anyone who loves bags? Mia Tui have a stunning collection of high-quality bags for reasonable prices. From backpacks, work bags, travel bags and more, I'm sure you will find the right bag for someone. In the photo below is the Maya Backpack in the colour Graphite, which I absolutely love. There's plenty enough storage inside, and the bag itself is just beautiful. There's also a large choice of colours too.

Who doesn't like a pair of personalised socks for Christmas? For us, it's like some tradition to buy a pack or pair of socks. Especially that we always end up having odd pairs in our drawers! These pair of socks from Sparks and Daughters are extra special with the personalisation. The socks feature hand drawn bears, one being a big bear and you then have a choice to add one, two or three little bears. They are adorable and great quality too. A great gift for parents and grandparents this Christmas.

If you're looking for something different, this unique and beautiful personalised wooden box from The Personalised Gift Shop would be a lovely gift for someone this Christmas. An idea would be to fill it up with pictures, treats and any other little gifts. It's a box that can be kept and treasured for years and be passed down generations. Make it extra special by personalising it with a meaningful picture.

Gin has become hugely popular in the past year or so. There are some fab gin gifts from Yumbles that I'm sure any gin lover would absolutely love and appreciate! There's a choice of four different packs that you can choose from. Each gift pack contains 3x100ml bottles of different flavoured Ely Gin. These gins are also gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian and free of artificial ingredients.

Another great gluten-free alcohol gift set is from Princess Prosecco. Something different that Princess Prosecco do is a subscription box and you can also gift someone a subscription gift box too. They also do other gift boxes that would be great for Christmas. This set I received is gluten-free and includes, sweets, a treat, prosecco and a small bottle of gin.

Talking alcohol, Drink Cranes have a delicious range of ciders, gins and liqueur drinks. Below is their cider gift set that includes 3 full-sized, branded Cranes cider bottles, along with a branded Cranes glass. An ideal gift for someone who loves to drink cider. I love a good cider when I drink, and these three flavours sound delicious.

Last but not least of the alcohol, this prosecco bottle is extra special with the personalised label from Personalised Bottle Labels. You can choose any bottle of alcohol, from wine, gin, prosecco and more. These labels are great for all occasions, and you can personalise them as you order and make sure they are perfect before you buy.

Enough about alcohol and move on to the hot drinks. Most of us all love a hot tea or coffee in the morning, but some us are rushing around too much to have a nice on cosy at home. This travel cup from Oxo would be the perfect gift for someone who's always out and about. It's a spill-proof travel mug in graphite and will keep your drink hot or cold for hours.

Do you know anyone who loves their tools? You can get any better than the brand Leatherman. Known for their high quality tools, always rated. From the FREE collection, the Leatherman Free T2 multi tool will be a big hit for any person who loves their tools. It's a small tool, which mean it's an ideal size to keep in your pocket, but when it goes above and beyond for performance.

Nextbase have a great range of Dash Cams, another great gift for someone this Christmas. Buying something useful and a product that can be used for many years is always a good gift. Having a dash cam for your vehicle is always a good idea, just incase an accident happens, you will have the footage on the dash cam, that can be used as evidence. Not only that but if an accident happens, it can let the Emergency know where you are located too.

And what's better than ending the gift guide with this range of delicious chocolate gifts from Chocolate and Love. They have a fantastic range of different flavoured Organic chocolates, as well as gift boxes to choose from too. The packaging is beautiful and recyclable too, which is always a bonus. A box of chocolates from Chocolate and Love will surely make someone's day this Christmas.

*** IMAGE COMING SOON ***

Another gift that's being added is this beautiful 2020 Planner from Ponderlily. Ponderlily have some beautiful stationery gifts from planner journals, notepads to accessories. This particular planner journal that I've received is in a Sage cloth cover. The front cover has foiled copper lettring and each page inside is a thick 110gsm recycled paper. There are many different things to do in the planner from to-do lists, notes, gratitude lists, pockets for keepsakes, reminders, pages for inspiration, monthly spreads, weekly spreads and so more. This would be an ideal gift for anyone who loves stationery and loves to be organised.

And there we have it, another Christmas gift guide done for another year. I hope you found some new gift ideas from the guide. Thank you for reading through and supporting.

I'd also like to thank every single brand that was mentioned in this gift guide for providing all the gifts to make this gift guide possible.

Christmas Gifts for Families

As the years go by, families grow and grow, which means buying a gift for each person in a family can be quite expensive. That's when buying one gift for the whole family comes in great. But it can be quite difficult to find the right gift for the whole family, especially if there are kids in the family too. I've gathered up another Christmas gift guide that will give you gift ideas for families, hopefully it will help!

Games, you can't get enough board games and especially at Christmas time board games are a great gift for families. Cool Stuff have a large range of different games for the whole family, but this Friends Monopoly game will be a hugely popular game for those Friends fans this year. Bring the Friends quotes and memories into play, I'm sure whoever plays will have a good laugh reading the Friends related chance cards and remembering all their classic sayings.

Chocolates are always a great gift for families at Christmas time. But why not go a bit different from your usual selection boxes and buy some beautiful gift sets from Chocolate and Love. Lots of delicious tasting chocolate flavours and they come in some beautiful wrapping, which means you won't need to wrap - saves you one less job at this busy time of year.

Why not get all personal by gifting a personalised photo canvas for a special family this year? You can't go wrong with a photo canvas, personalised gifts are always appreciated and loved by people. Your Surprise have a great range of different sized canvases, not only that, but of high quality too.

Another personalised gift for a family could be from Life in Squares. Choose a range of photos to add in a stunning high quality frame or why not go for a acrylic, MDF, Image blocks or more. This is a gift that will surely be loved and would look beautiful on the wall in a family home.

Family calendars, you can never go wrong. This Vintage Disney Poster calendar will be a huge hit for most families, especially if they love Disney. This calendar is from Danilo, who have a large range of different stationery from diaries, calendars and a few other bits too. But this particular Vintage Disney Poster calendar features 12 vintage images of the most loved and favourite vintage Disney films.

If you're still unsure on a gift, why not order an activity day, a weekend away, spa day or something else from the huge range of choices at Red Letter Days. At reasonable prices too, there's bound to be something on there that someone or a family would love. It's great also that the person you gift it too can choose their dates and times to suit them around work or life.

Hope this gift guide has helped you find something for someone this Christmas.

I would also like to thank every single brand mentioned in this gift guide for providing the products in return for the feature in this guide. All images, words and opinions are my own.

31 Days of Christmas Movies

December is just around the corner and what's better than binging on some very festive films throughout the month! Nothing beats cosying up on the sofa, under the blanket, with the fire on. I've watched many festive films and my favourites are; Elf, The Polar Express and The Grinch. But on today's post, I've gathered 31 festive films for you to watch through the festive period.

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas ☐

2. Home Alone ☐

3. Home Alone 2 ☐

4. Fred Claus ☐

5 The Polar Express ☐

6. The Grinch ☐

7. The Santa Clause ☐

8. Love Actually ☐

9. A Christmas Carol ☐

10. Mickey's Christmas Carol ☐

11. Die Hard ☐

12. Santa Clause 2

13. ELF ☐

14. The Muppet Christmas Carol ☐

15. Miracle On 34th Street ☐

16. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause ☐

17. Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas ☐

18. I'll Be Home For Christmas ☐

19. Jack Frost ☐

20. Santa Clause Is Coming To Town ☐

21. Snow ☐

22. Santa Buddies ☐

23. The Holiday ☐

24. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer ☐

25. Christmas Carol ☐

26. The Nativity ☐

27. The Christmas Chronicles ☐

28. Arthur Christmas ☐

29. Scrooged ☐

30. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation ☐ 

31. Father Christmas ☐

Why not print this out and tick them as you go.

Coral Island Blackpool

- AD - We were kindly invited to Coral Island to review and we were given some spending money for the machines, a VIP card that let us go on a couple of rides, as well as a free meal in Captain Jacks. Although this is an AD, all words, images and opinions are entirely my own.

CORAL ISLAND, BLACKPOOL

Blackpool is a town I have visited many many times when I was a child. It's known for its fish and chip shops, arcades, lights and rides. It was somewhere my Dad used to take my brother and me for days out during all seasons. My best times to visit was the winter for the lights and the summer because it was just so nice. Years later and Blackpool has changed massively. The seaside front has been updated and it does look 10x better than what it used too.

When I was asked if I'd like to give a review of Coral Island on the promenade of Blackpool, I instantly said yes. Main reason being, I've not taken my kids to Blackpool and it's a place I've been wanting to visit again for a very long time. I've also heard some great things about Coral Island and so I couldn't wait to see what it was all about.

ARRIVING

It was a May Bank Holiday weekend and the first weekend of the school holidays that we went, which honestly, wasn't the perfect time to go as it was overly busy. Coral Island was very easy to find and we parked in a multi-storey car park nearby, which was a 5-minute walk from the arcade centre. 

There are 7 entrance doors to enter Coral Island and it's definitely a place you will not miss, with its lights, music and arcade machines. It was much bigger than I thought and there is a lot more mix of arcade machines than I thought too. You will find the classic old' 2p machines that everybody loves, electronic bingo, rides and much more.

ARCADE GAMES, TICKETS AND RIDES

The arcade games prices ranged from 2p, 10, 30p, 50p and £1. There are a few 'Change' machines if you were wanting some loose change and there's also a fair range of free cash machines to get money out too. As for the arcade machines, there's a great range of different machines to play for all ages. 

Coral Island has a ticket system which means whichever machine you are on, you win some tickets. The higher your score, the more tickets you will receive. The girls especially loved this and in total, they got around 500 or so more tickets. Unfortunately, we weren't able to swap them in the Prize Counter because the queue was way too long and the wait would have been a long time. So we told the girls we would save them up until the next time we visit.

There are two rides; Pirate Flyer and The Ghost Train. We had one go on each ride, mainly because the girls didn't ask to go on them again and again, the queues were quite long when we were passing. The Pirate Flyer was the ride I went on with the kids. 4 people are allowed on one Pirate Flyer and the ride lets you have a flying view of the whole arcade - it was pretty cool!

The Ghost Train, on the other hand, I didn't go on it but my partner did. It's 2 people per cart and my eldest, who's 9, ended up crying all the way through. She was terrified, luckily her sister was sitting next to her and comforted her throughout the ride. My partner and my little boy, who's 2 years old were fine. So it all depends on the child if they can handle some slightly scary rides or not! 

My only problem, other than the queues for the rides, was I personally found the staff on the rides a bit off. When the kids and I went on the Pirate Flyer, Freddie decided to have a meltdown before getting on. The pirate came around the corner and gave the kids a chocolate coin each, which I thought was nice. But the lady that let us go on the ride, wasn't all that enthusiastic like I was expecting. We were also not told that the ride stops for a few minutes - which literally scared me as my worst fear is a ride stopping halfway through - but all was ok in the end, luckily. 

THE FOOD - CAPTAIN JACKS

There are a few food places to choose from, but we were gifted a family meal in Captain Jacks. The staff were so welcoming and I loved the whole 'Island Holiday/Pirate' kind of theme they had going. It wasn't a large place and it wasn't overly busy either. We were shown to our table and the kids were given their children's menu, as well as some crayons to draw - which is always a bonus.

Firstly, the kids eat free for every adult meal bought, which is a great bonus. The menu ranges from burgers, chicken and ribs. The menu for kids had a selection of chicken nuggets, sausages, macaroni and cheese and a couple more. As for prices, the adult menu started from £7.80 and in all honesty, the prices weren't too bad but I did find any add ons such as adding cheese to a burger etc, I found the extra price a little pricey. But it's not something that would stop me going back.

Something I have said since going to Captain Jacks was that the customer service was fantastic.

OVERALL

Coral Island is a very large place and I did feel I needed eyes on the back of my head to keep an eye on the kids, as it was super busy. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't so busy - it was quite difficult with the pram. But, saying that, the girls did enjoy themselves and I guess that's the main priority when you have a day out somewhere. The 2p machines took me back when I was a child, so I even had a go on them. 

There is a lot of things to do there from the rides, arcade machines and other machines such as air hockey, car racing and so on. So it's definitely a place you can spend a good few hours at. As there are many other attractions in Blackpool, I would definitely visit Blackpool again to visit Coral Island and their other attractions (see below). But I would make sure I visit on a day or weekend that isn't the school holidays or bank holiday as it was a little too overwhelming for me.

OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION

Coral Island is huge, check out their online map to help you get around.

It's free entry which is great if you want little breaks in between.

Make sure you keep the kids close by as it is a large area.

There are toilets in Coral Island.

Kids eat free, all day, every day (with a purchased adult meal)

BLACKPOOL ATTRACTIONS

Madame Tussauds

Pleasure Beach

Sea Life

Blackpool Tower

Blackpool Zoo